Jon, Erika and Adalie
by Amelia Elizabeth
Summary: A sequel to "Jon and Erika" taking place roughly one year later. You don't need to read the first one but it might help. Another story about Jon and Erika and their growing family as they navigate work, love, and pregnancy.
1. Chapter 1

Jon, Erika and Adalie

A sequel to "Jon and Erika" taking place roughly one year later. You don't need to read the first one but it might help. Another story about Jon and Erika and their growing family as they navigate work, love, and pregnancy. Hope you enjoy! As always, please read and review!

...

"Hey."

"Good morning," she said, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I didn't, but someone did." Jon watched as Erika bent down to pick up their 11-month-old daughter. Adalie Archer had a big smile on her face and was still wearing her pajamas with little dogs all over them. One of Erika's brothers had bought them for her; they were the kind with the built in little footie slippers. There were nights, especially when Erika had been back on Columbia, that he wished they made those for adults. Erika's feet were always freezing.

Jon watched as his daughter studied the view screen closely, one hand tightly grasping her mother's finger and the other reaching out to try to touch his face. Adalie was just starting to understand computers and long distance calls and she always seemed disappointed when she couldn't actually reach her father. Jon tried to call at least once a week but it was harder now that there were more warp 5 ships using the comm network. Getting a clear enough channel for a video call was as hard as getting Trip to go near the desert. But tonight, or for Erika, today, he had been lucky. Enterprise had been flying formation with its newest sister ship, Discovery, when her comm officer let him know that their ship had 30 minutes of extra line time that they wouldn't be using and would he like to take it. Most of his fellow captains knew that Jon had a wife and a young daughter back home and they always went out of their way to find a way to give him just a little more time with them.

"Hi Addie! Hi sweetheart!" Jon said, watching his daughter's face lit up as she giggled at the monitor.

"Say hi Daddy!" Erika whispered in the little girl's ear.

"Hi," Adalie said shyly. She had just learned the word "hi" the last time Jon had been able to come back to Earth. Jon wasn't 100% if she knew what it meant, but it was quickly becoming her favorite word. She would say "hi," then wait for him to say it back, then say it again, and so on until Jon was clever enough to distract her with another word.

"Hiya baby girl," he said, wondering if this would be one of those times. But Addie was shy this morning and hid her face behind her mother's hands.

"Did I wake you up early?" Jon asked his daughter.

"Say, yes you did, Daddy," Erika gave him a look but smiled.

"Rob had some extra comm time and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see my two favorite girls."

"Even if we just woke up?"

"Especially if they just woke up."

Erika shook her head and smiled. "You are hopeless, you know that? Anyway, how are things going out there? How is Rob settling in?"

"He's fine. His engine has been giving him a little trouble so we've been keeping a close eye on him just in case. Nothing like the kind of trouble Columbia put you through but he is hitting some bumps."

"Columbia did not have engine trouble, Jon. She just had a few hiccups," Erika said proudly. It had been over a year since Erika gave up command of the second NX – class ship and yet she still thought of Columbia as her baby. Jon couldn't quite understand it. Yes, Enterprise was his ship with his crew, but he didn't talk to it they way Erika talked to her ship. He didn't love it and care about it the way Erika still did about her last ship. He had a dog for that sort of stuff.

He folded his arms across his chest. "Hiccups that left you dead in the water for hours at a time."

"And Enterprise had a perfect record?" Erika raised an eyebrow. "Have you tried resetting Rob's power couplings now that you are out in deep space? It could be that the boys back at Jupiter Station were still..."

"Erika…"

"Well, have you?" she asked impatiently.

"Yes, that was the first thing Trip did when I sent him over there last night." Jon sighed as he saw the look of satisfaction on his wife's face.

"And?"

"And he pulled the entire bus relay system and we haven't had a problem since," he muttered.

"See? I knew it."

"Rob should hire you for his new chief."

"No thanks, I already have a job," she said with a smile.

"Speaking of, how are things back on the home front?" he asked as he looked into her eyes. He sensed that there was something she wasn't telling him but he wasn't willing to start prying just yet.

Erika began bouncing Adalie on her knee. "Things are quiet here for now. The conference went well, I think. Sam Gardiner has been working around the clock preparing for the launch of Atlantis; we all have really. She starts her shakedown trials next month and we still don't have that new comm system installed yet. You know, if this thing works, you won't have to trade away all your spare parts for line time."

"How do you know what I've been trading for calls home?" he folded his arms across his chest.

"I read the same reports you do, Jon. And I know when a ship is burning through their plasma relays faster than they should." She stopped and gave him a small grin. "Anyway, I'm glad you do. I miss you."

"Me too, Rike."

Adalie reached up and grabbed a piece of her mother's long dark hair, causing Erika's attention to shift downwards again. "We've been talking about you today," she said as she tried to untangle her hair.

"Oh really?" he smiled.

Erika nodded. "We talked about where Daddy is and when he'll be coming home again." He watched as Adalie leaned her head against her mother's chest. "And, Addie has something to show you."

"What is it?" he asked excitedly.

"Just watch," Erika said before turning to face her daughter. "Addie, show Daddy what we learned yesterday. Where's the baby?" Adalie carefully patted her mother's stomach and smiled back at the monitor. Jon stared.

"Surprise!" Erika said with a sheepish grin.

"You're pregnant?"

"Mmm hmmm," she nodded carefully.

"How?"

Erika gave him a look. "Jon, tell me you remember coming home to visit two months ago."

"Two months? Two months…" he stopped as a wide grin spread across his face. "Rike, we're having another baby!"

Erika beamed back at him. "Yes we are. I found out yesterday when I took Adalie in for her check up. I'd been feeling a little under the weather ever since you left, but nothing like last time." Jon smiled, remembering Erika when she was first pregnant with Adalie. She was sick almost every morning, could barely sit through a meeting with out having to rush out to use the bathroom every 30 minutes, and tossed and turned all night. In hindsight, it had been pretty clear that she was pregnant even before they had rushed to Phlox to confirm it.

"This time," Erika said, picking up on his train of thought, "I was just a little queasy and I hadn't been sleeping well. But I just thought that had more to do with this one learning to sleep through the night." She looked down at her daughter who was now busy holding a soft plastic giraffe.

"When are you due?" he asked.

"September 1st, but the doctor said that I could have this one early since it is my second," she said, a hint of trepidation creeping into her voice.

"Rike, are you …"

"I'm fine, Jon." She gave him a reassuring grin. "I'm healthy, the baby is healthy, and Adalie is healthy. I'm happy, I really am. Are you?" she asked cautiously.

"Of course I am. Rike, I'm so happy I can't believe it. Have you told anyone else?"

"You mean can you go tell Trip?" she gave him that look again.

"Umm… maybe?" he tried.

"Yes, I told my brothers last night when they came over for dinner. I know we don't have to worry about this little darling," she held Adalie up and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "spilling the beans, but I think we should keep it in the family until I'm out of the first trimester, just like we did last time."

Jon stared at Erika expectantly. "Oh, Jon! Of course Trip is family. Go tell him."

"Thanks, hon."

"Just promise me one thing," she said.

"Please don't announce to your entire engineering crew that I am with child this time."

"You got it."


	2. Chapter 2 - 11 weeks

Chapter 2 – 11 weeks along

A/N: Forgot to include the usual disclaimers. None of this is mine because if it was, things would have turned out just like this.

###

"Ready?"

She nodded.

"Three, two, one," he counted off before tossing the coin in the air. "Call it."

"Heads."

They both waited half a second for the coin to fall into Jon's waiting hand and then be flipped over on his forearm. He held his hand over the coin and looked up at her.

"Okay. Tails, the baby is born on Enterprise. Heads, at Starfleet Headquarters."

"Right," she agreed.

"You know…" he began.

"Jonathan!"

"Fine." He lifted up his hand. "Heads. Oh god damn it!" he swore in mock frustration. "I'm 0 for two."

Erika smiled proudly. This had been a silly game of theirs back when she was in command of Columbia. He had wanted her to give birth on Enterprise. Something about his Denobulan doctor and the newer imaging chamber convinced Jon that his ship was the best choice. And she had been stubbornly advocating for Columbia. After all, it was her baby so why not give birth on her ship? In the end, they had tossed a coin and she had won, just like this time. But just like last time, they both knew that it was all just for fun.

"Yes!" she cheered triumphantly.

"I swear you rigged this thing somehow," he grumbled, studying the coin closely.

"I rigged a coin toss held over lightyears away?" she folded her arms and gave her a look. The computer screen image rippled as if to emphasize the tremdous distance that separated them.

He put the coin back down and looked up at her. "So, how did it go today?

She shrugged. "Just fine."

"Still feeling lousy?"

"What do you think?" she sighed. "I'm tired, I'm cranky, I'm sick all the time, and I can't seem to sit through a briefing without… you know…. squirming. I'm ready for this part to be over."

"Have you told Sam yet?" Jon asked.

She shook her head. "He's been up at the spacedocks this week. And you know, Sam. He'll be worse than Trip." Jon had told her what Trip had done this time when he found out that Erika was expecting again. Apparently, Enterprise was still recovering from the power outages caused by the wrench he dropped on the engine.

Jon studied her for a moment then spoke. "You're afraid to tell him, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You don't want to tell Admiral Gardiner that you are pregnant because of what happened last time."

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, come on, Erika. The last time you got pregnant we waited and waited and when we finally told the Admiralty, they made plans to remove you from command that afternoon," Jon said.

"You make it sound like they were mad," she said quietly.

"They weren't, you know," he gave her a sad smile. "They had never had this situation before. They never had a pregnant captain in the fleet before. And certainly they never had one on their flagship." He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "They panicked."

"Damn straight they panicked."

"So do you want to tell them earlier this time?"

"No," she said firmly. "This is my decision and I'm not ready to let them know. It is different this time around. I'm not in command of a starship. I have a desk job on Earth and I'll be able to continue working up until the moment I go into labor. There are no tactical alerts, no dangerous situations where my decision making abilities will be compromised by the fact that my life is worth a little bit more to me now than it was before, and no criminal organizations hell bent on kidnapping me or worse." She shuddered. "I'm just not ready."

"Okay," he said.

She bit her lip. "Jon?"

"What is it?"

"Sam knew the first time. Before … you know. I told him early because I was so excited. It was heartbreaking to tell him what happened. I'm not sure I can do all that…" she stopped, her voice trembling.

"Oh, Rike," he reached out a hand to the screen. "I'm so sorry."

"And I know that it isn't going to happen again, but what if it does, Jon? I'm not as young as I used to be. We were lucky with Adalie, what if we aren't this time?"

"Erika, everything is going to be fine. You said so yourself. The doctors all say you are healthy and this baby is healthy. This isn't like before," Jon said softly.

She brushed a tear out of her eye and tried to laugh. "Look at me, I'm being ridiculous."

"I'd say you are 'being pregnant,'" Jon countered with a raised eyebrow. "I love you so much, and I wish more than anything that I was home with you right now so that I could tell you that in person."

"Me too," she sighed.

"Think about it this way," he said. "Now that you won the coin toss, it is virtually guaranteed that they will know at some point or another."

"It would be nicer to tell them before I go into labor in my office," she grinned.

"They would flip."

"Oh most definitely." She looked up at him. "Thank you. Thank you for calling and for dealing with a crazy pregnant wife, again. Thank you for being so sweet and so calm."

"I have a confession to make."

"What is it?"

"Trip wasn't the one who dropped the wrench," he said quietly.

"What?" she gasped.

"I dropped it about the time the realization of all this hit," he grinned. "So before you go calling me calm, just remember that when I realized that my wife was having another baby and that I would be out in space for most of her pregnancy, I dropped a 20lb wrench on a billion dollar piece of irreplaceable Starfleet technology."

"I love you too." She smiled.

"Just wait til you see what I'm going to drop when the coin toss kicks in!"


	3. Chapter 3 - 15 weeks

Chapter 3 – 15 weeks

"Jon?" Erika looked up at the computer screen as the connection was made. She pulled her robe tightly across her chest and pulled her legs up underneath as she sat in Jon's favorite chair.

"I called as soon as I heard." Gods, he looked exhausted, she thought. It must have been the middle of the night out there too.

"What do you know?" she asked hopefully.

"The same as you," he said, shaking his head. "Failed to check in, can't find them on sensors. Probably gone silent." He glanced distractedly at a padd.

"But why?" she asked. "Why would Columbia just drop off like that?"

"I don't know."

She tried to clear her head. Ships fell off the tracking grids all the time. They simply didn't have the technology to track and maintain a position lock on every vessel in the fleet. But a simple ping to the comm officer could almost always result in a location check and coordinates verification. Of course, sometimes a ship wasn't in range of a buoy or satellite or their transmitters had gone down. But it was rare. The world in which Starfleet currently operated was just not large enough to lose ships, especially not top of the line flagships. Someone out there should have been able to get eyes on them by now. And yet, no one had.

Columbia was a quiet ship, quieter than Enterprise. It wasn't uncommon for a near by ship to suddenly lose their sensor lock on the sleek but powerful cruiser. It had been something of a game she liked to play on her escorts. But they always found her eventually. And she never would have dropped off for more than a few minutes without breaking silence. No, this was different.

"Do you remember when I got my orders for Columbia?" she asked, changing the subject.

"How could I forget?" Jon said with a tired smile. "I must have told everyone I saw that my wife was going to be commanding the newest warp 5 ship."

Erika nodded, remembering. "She didn't even have a name yet, just her number, and they pulled my name out of the lottery. I thought they had all lost their minds."

Jon leaned forward, resting his chin on his folded arms. "Really?"

"Mmm hmm," she murmured as she leaned her face forward until the tip of her nose was just touching the screen.

"You know," he said, raising an eyebrow, "they didn't pull your name out of a lottery. They chose you. We chose you."

"We?" she asked, incredulously.

"Sure, you don't think they wouldn't consult me before they named the commander of my sister ship, do you?" he gave her a grin.

"And what did you say?" she asked.

"It wasn't that simple." He shook his head in mock seriousness. "They told us, me, Sam, Forrest, all the senior captains, that Columbia was up and that the officer selection process would be starting soon. We all met a couple of times to look at the names the brass had picked out."

"Who else was on the short list?" Erika asked.

"Good people, all of them. A few veterans of the Stellar Navy, but mostly our people, some who had been with the program since the beginning, others who were new to the fleet. It's funny; none of you were captains yet. Forrest said they wanted this to be your first command. It was right about the time we started throwing around the idea of having officers specialize in one class of ship. We knew these guys would be with the group for life. We had finally narrowed it down to four officers. I was trying to be impartial of course…"

"Of course," she smiled knowingly.

"… but it was AG who finally said, 'For god sakes, it has to be Erika!' And we all agreed. It was always going to be you."

"Really," she said, leaning back.

"Hmm," he nodded. "Of course, once it was all settled, I put in my two cents that sending my wife out with her own ship was a terrible idea and shouldn't she just stay on Enterprise with me?"

"You didn't!" Erika gasped.

"It was afterwards," he held his hands guiltily. "The guys took me to the 602 to celebrate, probably about the time you were getting the call on the Republic."

"And you acted so surprised when I called to tell you!" Erika folded her arms and gave him a look.

"You're welcome," Jon pretended to take a bow. Erika laughed.

"It really was a surprise to me," she admitted. "I'd been away from the project for so long, I thought they had forgotten about me."

"Thought you had abandoned them to hang with the warp 4 crowd?" Jon offered, unhelpfully.

"Something like that."

"Of course not. How could anyone forget you, Rike?" he asked.

"Jonathan…"

"It was always going to be you. They needed someone intelligent, familiar with the program, capable as an officer, a strong leader, good with the systems, and way more tactful than me."

"Very funny," she said, trying not to reward him with a smile.

"It's true!" he said. "When it came time to choose a captain for Columbia, one of the standing requirements was that the candidate be able to handle a press conference without causing a diplomatic incident or an official audit of Starfleet." Now she did smile. It hadn't been that bad really. The Public Affairs Officers had learned their lesson about sending Jon out without prepping. And the Vulcan ambassadors were only recalled for 24 hours as a dramatic show more than anything. Really.

It seemed like all of that was such a long time ago, almost as if it was from another life or even someone else's life. Columbia wasn't hers any more. Jon wasn't the young hero he had been. Things had settled down, and danger, real danger, had almost filtered out of her world. Almost.

"Jon?" she asked. "Do you think they are out there?"

His face turned serious. "I do. Ronnie and Laysen are as good as they come. They'll bring her home."

Erika bit her lip. "I hope so. Jon, be careful out there." Her hands drifted unconsciously to the telltale swell of her belly.

"I will," he promised. She felt him watching her as she worried. "Rike, what is it?"

"That could have been me out there," she said quietly.

"I know," he sighed.

"Kaidie Laysen's got a husband and two kids back home."

"I know."

"It should have been me."

"No," he said firmly.

"Yes it should," she whispered softly.

"Erika, we are not going to do this. Not now, not ever. Kaidie made a choice, same as we did. She and Mark chose to raise their family with one parent out in space, same as we did. I swear to god, Rike, even if you had stayed out there, Kaidie Laysen would still be an NX captain facing the exact same dangers she is now." He stopped to make sure she was listening. "Columbia will make it through this, Erika. You just have to give her time."

Erika smiled sadly. "Sam said the same thing to me when you went missing near the Romulan border."

"And he was right," Jon said. "We've got plenty of time left before we flag this as an emergency."

In spite of herself, Erika yawned and Jon noticed.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"So do you."

"Go back to bed, Erika."

"You'll call when you know something?" she asked softly.

"Yes, but you'll probably know first," he sighed.

"Jon…"

"I will, I promise."

"Thank you," she held her hand up to the screen. "I love you."

"I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4 - 22 weeks

Chapter 4 – 22 weeks

A/N: Special shout out to the lovely BonesBird for allowing me to use Simon and Maria. When I sat down to write this story, I realized that I couldn't think of them with any other names.

###

Erika slumped down on the couch and immediately propped her feet up on the coffee table.

"So you told Admiral Gardner?" her brother guessed, giving her a quick look over.

"Yes," Erika huffed as she stretched her back.

"And?" Simon prompted.

"And he's thrilled. Everyone is thrilled."

"You aren't thrilled."

Erika gave her older brother a look. "I'm still feeling sick every morning. With Adalie, the nausea had subsided by this point and I was at least able to function when I got to work in the mornings. Now none of my clothes fit, I'm clumsy, and I can't remember things I know I am supposed to."

"So in other words, your pregnant?" Simon said as he turned to watch the little girls playing in the living room.

"And Jon wants to have a whole water polo team…" she sighed as she rested her hand on her small but clearly visible baby bump.

Of course Sam Gardner had been excited. Erika suspected that he had figured it out a couple weeks earlier but acted surprised when she walked into his office that afternoon. He had asked all the right questions, like when she was due, if she knew the gender yet, and how she was feeling. On that last one she had lied just a bit. "Oh I'm feeling fine!" she said cheerfully. Sam gave her a look that seemed to suggest that he knew better than to believe that.

But things had gone better this time. It was easier to tell your boss that you were expecting when your job didn't include command of a starship, she thought. No one gawked, no one asked her to resign her commission, and no one panicked. Yet. They all did want to touch her belly though.

"Well, we have been having a fun afternoon over here," Simon reported. "Addie has the girls wrapped around her little finger. They've been sitting like that reading ever since I got home from work."

Adalie had entered into a phase where she loved books. At first she had just liked to chew on them or rip out their pages. But now whenever they had company over, she would toddle over to the little bookshelf that Jon had built and bring all her books to her guests with an expectant look. Most of the time the books were picture books that Erika's mother had given them when Adalie was born, but some of them were a sturdy cardboard with big images of dogs and cats and starships. Adalie loved her books and she loved "reading" them over and over and over. More often than not, her reader was more than happy to do so.

Erika smiled as she looked over to the living room where her niece Vivienne was busy reading with a content little toddler curled up in her lap. Nerissa was flopped nearby on the floor, quietly reading her own book and looking up every now and then to watch her older sister and cousin. Once, Adalie had decided that Nerissa's book was way more interesting than her own "Good Night Moon," so she scooted over and pointed at the pages, signaling Rissa to read. Erika adored her nieces. Without missing a beat, Nerissa happily began reading aloud from "Little House on the Prairie." Eventually, Adalie seemed to realize that there were no real pictures in this book and toddled back over to Vivie, much to everyone's amusement.

As she watched the girls play, she felt a small fluttering in her abdomen and, not for the first time that day, Erika began to wonder what this new baby would be. She liked to think that she would be happy to have either a boy or another girl, but everyone it seemed already had their minds made up about what she was having. Simon thought it was going to be a girl. Maria thought it was going to be a girl. Her nieces, Vivie and Nerissa, thought it was going to be a girl. Sam thought it was going to be a girl. Her colleagues at work and even some of the students she guest-lectured all "knew" it was going to be a girl. She didn't even both asking how they knew because they seemed so confident. Even Jon was certain it was a girl. And Erika was starting to think that it was probably going to be a girl.

All throughout this pregnancy, things had felt similar to the way they had been when she was pregnant with Adalie. Sure, there were some differences, but overall, she was feeling the same: pregnant. Although this time, instead of tending to a starship, she had a 15 month old who just discovered how to jump off the couch to chase after. Erika felt her eyes close in exhaustion.

"Erika?" she realized her sister-in-law was watching her closely. "You all right? You look a little flushed." Maria held out a cooling hand to her forehead.

"It's a little warm in here," she admitted.

Maria frowned. "Hmmm," she said, glancing over at Simon who only shrugged.

"Did you bring something to change into for the party?" Simon asked. Now she really did groan. Her mother was having everyone over to dinner that evening, to celebrate something or another, not that she could remember anyway. Pregnancy brain was another thing that was the same as it had been last time. She had packed Adalie a nice little dress and some leggings before she dropped her off at daycare but had completely forgotten to bring something for herself when she rushed out the door that morning. Again, not that it mattered. She doubted she could still fit into any of her clothes. Being pregnant on a starship in the winter was one thing, being pregnant in San Francisco in the summer was entirely another.

Maria seemed to sense her distress. "Don't worry, Rike. I think I've got something that will work." Before Erika could protest, she disappeared upstairs and came back a moment later with a simple blue sundress. Erika gave it the once over.

"This was from when I was pregnant with Rissa. It's comfy, it's loose and you'll be able to wear it until September," she said. "Go put it on."

"Are you sure? If I wear this, everyone is going to know I'm pregnant."

"They already do, Rike," Simon said as he lay down on the floor with the girls. "You look like you swallowed a cantaloupe."

"Simon!" Maria said as she pushed Erika towards the bathroom. "Go get changed," she said in her most maternal tone. Erika couldn't help but smile.

She stepped into the bathroom and shrugged off her clothes, the old makeshift uniform that Phlox had made for her back on Enterprise. She deliberately turned away from the mirror, not wanting to see that cantaloupe that her brother had mentioned. She slipped into the dress, which was a bright French blue with cap sleeves and an empire waist and fell just below her knees. Maria had been right. It was comfortable, more so than Erika had imagined. The fabric gently draped over her body and created a soft rustling noise as she moved. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and smiled. Cautiously, she stepped out of the bathroom.

"See?" Maria said, now holding Adalie in her arms. "You look beautiful. Addie, don't you think your mother looks beautiful?" Adalie nodded eagerly.

"You were right," Erika admitted. "However, you can see my swollen ankles. None of my shoes fit anymore," she stuck one of the offending feet out for all to see.

"Then go barefoot," Maria shrugged. "I mean, you're already pregnant. And it's just mom's house." Erika couldn't argue with that.

"Girls, it's time to get ready," Maria called into the living room. "Go up stairs and put on the outfits we laid out earlier. I'm going to get this little munchkin all ready to go." She gave Adalie a kiss on the cheek. Addie giggled.

"Maria, I can take Addie…" Erika began to say but her sister-in-law would hear nothing of it.

"Go relax, Erika. Lord knows you won't be able to do that soon enough," she said with a knowing smile. If anyone knew what it was like to have two children born so close together, it was Maria.

"So, how are you doing?" her brother said as she sat down next to him.

"I miss him," she admitted, knowing what Simon was after. "I'm so glad he is coming home, I don't even care about the circumstances." Jon was coming home soon, but not for the reasons either one of them wanted. After the disappearance and reemergence of a badly damaged Columbia in the newly declared Neutral Zone, Starfleet had issued an immediate recall of their entire fleet. A confab was scheduled for the following week to debrief on what had happened and put measures into place to ensure it would never happen again.

"Are you still feeling guilty about giving up your command?" he asked.

"A little."

"Well, Maria and I are glad you are here. The girls love having you and Addie so close," he smiled as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze. Having Simon and Maria so close had been a godsend for Erika when she went back to work fulltime after giving birth to Adalie. A couple days a week, one of them would pick Adalie up from daycare and bring her home to play with the girls. On nights when Erika had to work late, she would arrive at their home to find her daughter had already had her dinner, taken a bath, changed into her pajamas and read several of her favorite books at least twice. Sometimes her hair would be tied up in little bows if she was patient enough to sit still for the girls. Other nights she would spend hours jumping around on the couch tightly holding on to Vivie's hands. On those nights she would usually fall asleep in Erika's arms before they even left.

Adalie was a regular part of their home. She had her highchair at the kitchen table, a crib up in the spare bedroom with a dresser full of clothes, and her very own corner of the living room with books and toys and an old rocking horse that she adored. Erika had realized that she had never asked Simon or Maria to purchase any of those things or even to help out with Addie at all; they had just started doing it one day. They loved their niece, probably even more so because they had both been waiting quite a while for Jon and Erika to be ready to have kids.

"What I said earlier, about the cantaloupe…" Simon muttered. "You know I didn't…"

"I know," she smiled.

"You look healthy and beautiful," he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Even if you don't feel that way."

###


	5. Chapter 5 - 24 weeks

Chapter 5 – 24 weeks

Jon watched his wife place a hand absently on her belly. She was bigger this time around, he was sure of it. When she raced to greet him as his ship finally docked after the recall order, it was his turn to stop and stare. She was beautiful, round and smiling. He had pulled her close into his arms and held her tightly, whispering into her hair as the docking officer stood by with the disembarkation report. God bless that man, Jon thought with a smile. He must have seen reunions like this one all the time and knew to step back and give the couples those precious first few moments alone.

It seemed as though that brief encounter on the landing dock was going to be the last time the two of them ever got to spend time alone without thinking of the fleet. Immediately upon his return, Jon, as the newly promoted Fleet Captain, was whisked into debriefings while Erika was busy in the other end of the building sitting down with Laysen and Fletcher to try and figure out what exactly went wrong with Columbia. He knew it hadn't been easy for her. She had initially protested the assignment, saying that she was too close to that ship and her crew. But in the end, that was what Admiral Gardner wanted. He wanted someone who they would open up to about their experiences. Everyone knew that their reports hadn't included everything that had happened during that awful few days but they knew better than to ask them outright. Jon knew what that was like. Plenty of his nightly reports deliberately left out details that he was certain no one back in San Francisco would approve of. Like how he got the captain of their second most powerful ship pregnant. He turned back to Erika and she gave him a knowing smile.

Now that the individual ship debriefings had concluded, Gardner and the rest of the brass had gathered everyone together to discuss the new procedures the confab commission was putting in place. Most of it Jon had expected; routine check-in calls to Starfleet every six hours instead of every twelve, new tactical and intelligence training for the officers, and a new sensor network set to be deployed early next year that could track ships up to three times further than their current set up. But some of the recommendations were different. They represented a shift away from what he had believed Starfleet stood for and a movement towards what the Marines and the old Stellar Navy had spent their tenures working towards. Yes, he agreed that it was time that all those branches of the military and exploratory forces to be joined into one overarching organization, but he wasn't sure that he would like the result.

Gardner was still talking about the importance of their work as Jon turned back to watch his wife. Erika was now rubbing her belly in small circles as she tried to focus on the briefing. Jon knew that look. The baby was fidgeting and Erika was uncomfortable. Quietly, he reached a hand over and placed it right next to hers, instantly feeling the small but strong movements of their second child. The baby, seeming to know her father's presence began to settle down and Erika gave Jon's arm a grateful squeeze.

"You okay?" he whispered.

She nodded. "Ready for this to be over," she said softly.

He grinned and leaned over to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"And finally," his attention snapped back to the Admiral who appeared to be wrapping things up. "I just wanted to say congratulations to our very own Captain Erika Hernandez. Many of you know Erika, her adorable daughter and her husband who drives most of the admiralty crazy," Gardner gave Jon a funny look. "But what you may not know is that Erika's family is going to be growing by one soon. That's right, Jon and Erika are expecting another baby girl come early September. So the next time you see her looking a little pale or sitting in the back of a briefing looking as uncomfortable as she does right now," Gardner pointed her out and Jon could feel Erika blush as she smiled, "just remember this is why. Congratulations, Captain!"

The briefing room erupted into applause as their colleagues began coming over to shake his hand or give Erika a comforting hug. Jon shook his head and smiled. This could not have been more different than the first time they announced to Starfleet that Erika was expecting.

"Suddenly, it all makes sense," Veronica Fletcher leaned over to whisper in Jon's ear. He laughed out loud. "I mean, she was in and out of our briefing every hour or so running to the head."

"You didn't notice her growing belly?" Jon asked incredulously.

Veronica shrugged. "I thought she was just gaining weight from not being out in the field."

"Don't let her hear you say that."

"No kidding," Veronica said as she went over to give Erika a hug.

Jon looked up to see Sam giving him a look as he nodded over towards Veronica. Jon returned the nod. He knew what they had to do. As the room filtered out he walked over to where Erika and Ron were talking and laughing. There was a special bond between the two women, something that moved beyond their relationship as Captain and First Officer. Veronica had been one of the only other women in the program when she first began and her dry sense of humor and ability to cut through the BS made her a fast friend of Erika's.

"Rike, why didn't you tell me?" Veronica was complaining with a mock seriousness.

"If you hadn't lost your ship, I would have been able to tell you a lot sooner!"

"You guys just keep popping them out, don't you?" Ron sighed.

"You've never thought of having kids?" Jon asked.

"Not if you two keep up at this pace. I'll have all the god kids I could ever want," she gave Jon a thump on the shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"Let's get out of here. I'm dying to put my feet up," Erika said as she led them back to her office. They walked in silence for a few minutes before his wife spoke up again. "Now, Ron, you want to really tell us what went wrong out there?"

"No."

"Do you want me to guess?" Erika said with a frown.

"A lot of things went wrong in a very short amount of time," Ron said, flopping down on Erika's office couch.

"Like what?" Jon prodded as he leaned against the desk. He watched as Erika gently eased herself down next to Veronica and gratefully propped both her feet up on the coffee table. He swore he could hear a sigh of relief escape her.

"Like it turns out when we take a hit near section 27 all our transmitters go down like a ton of bricks. Like how when half your crew is taken as POWs, you spend most of your time trying to get them back rather than worrying about calling home for permission."

Erika shook her head solemnly. "They didn't need you to call for permission, Ron, they just wanted to know what happened."

"Now they know," Ron said simply.

"Veronica," Jon began, "I know this may be hard for you to understand but what happened to Columbia represents a fundamental turning point in the war. If what they did to you happened within the Neutral Zone or even on our side of the border, it means that they are going on the offensive in a way that we haven't seen for years. We have to know what is going on over there. We have to know how to prepare our captains and their crews for what might happen to them." He stopped as he watched Veronica closely, hoping that he was getting through to her.

"I know," she said quietly. "It wasn't a failure of command, you both know that. Captain Laysen is as good as they come. We were just the wrong kind of ship to be there on that mission."

Jon gave Erika a look. "We were hoping you would say that."

"What?"

"We didn't ask you back here to talk about what you or Kaidie may have done wrong, because in that situation I know Erika and I would have done the same thing." He knew that was true; one look at his unedited mission reports proved that fact over and over again. "Sam Gardner asked me to offer you command of a new class of warship."

Veronica's jaw dropped.

"This isn't the first time one of our ships has been wholly unprepared for the mission we needed her to undertake," Erika said, wincing a little both as she adjusted her body and as she remembered what had happened to Jon's ship right before Adalie was born. "Starfleet recognizes this. One of the things that I have been working on here is the eventual successor of the NX-class. Yes we still need explorers and long-term space missions. But right now more than anything we need ships that are fast and quiet and armed to the teeth with everything from weapons to top-of-the-line sensors and transmitters."

Finally, Veronica spoke up. "What does the timetable look like?" she asked bluntly.

"We are still in the design phase," Erika admitted. "Some of the engineers are fighting about whether three nacelles would be able to sustain a warp field or not." Veronica put her head in her hands and groaned. Jon thought that was a stupid thing to fight about. Conventional wisdom taught that you need an equal number of nacelles to generate a warp field and adding another would destabilize everything. Besides, these ships weren't supposed to push forward new ideas and theories; they were supposed to give Starfleet another weapon in their severely limited arsenal.

"So you are asking me to give up Columbia now to push something through development?" Ron shook her head. "And then command one of these things?"

"No one knows the weaknesses of our fleet more than you, Ron," Jon said. "The Corps doesn't know what really goes on out there. We need someone like you to make sure that when we do send these ships out they will be able to do everything that we need them to."

"But command? You really think I am ready?"

"Yes," Erika said simply.

"You don't have to make up your mind right now," Jon added. "We hope to have the first of the shakedown cruises in about six months."

"Six months?" Veronica rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten how long it took us to get your two ships up in the air? It's gonna be rough to meet that sort of deadline."

"What choice do we have?" Erika sighed. "Anyway, think about it. You were Sam's first choice for this assignment. If all goes according to plan, you'll be taking the first of this class out before Jon and I get around to having any more children." She patted her belly and gave Jon a sarcastic look.

"Okay," Veronica shrugged. "I'll do it."

"What?" Erika gasped.

"I'll do it," she said again. "It needs to be done and I don't trust any of these other yahoos to get it done the way it needs to be done."

Jon grinned and reached over to shake her hand. "Congratulations, Captain Fletcher." Veronica grimaced, but returned the handshake.

"So, does this thing have a name yet?"

"We're calling it 'Project Agrona.'"

"Is that because 'NY' sounds stupid?" Veronica asked.

"Go tell Sam you said yes and he can explain it all to you," Jon shook his head and sighed.

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	6. Chapter 6 - 30 weeks

Chapter 6 – 30 weeks 

"Hey, Captain, Adalie," Trip said strolling into the shuttle bay. "I didn't know you guys were up here."

"Erika has a pretty bad cold so we thought we would get out of her hair for the afternoon," Jon explained, adjusting Adalie on his hip. "And it's been a while since this one has seen Enterprise. The last time we were here I think she couldn't even walk yet."

"You wanna see all the new things?" Trip asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together.

"You bet." They climbed into the turbo lift, Trip operating the new manual controls; the old lifts were tied directly into the main power lines that were currently being stripped down and replaced, and Jon and Adalie watching in amazement. He looked over at his daughter who was trying to adjust the much too large hardhat that he had found for her in the Corps offices. As long as she was with him it was safe to bring her up to the docks but he had a feeling Erika was going to give him hell to pay when she found out where they had disappeared to. That is, if she could string together a sentence without sneezing half a dozen times.

"So I heard you had some trouble the other night assembling a crib for the new one."

Jon frowned. "Who told you?"

"Your wife did."

"It wasn't as bad as she seemed to think it was," he tried to explain. "See, the problem is that Simon helped Erika build the last one."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Trip asked.

"He set the bar too high. He's Erika's big brother and she still thinks he can do anything."

"Like Assembly a crib without calling in the Corps of Engineers."

"I didn't call the Corps. I just tried to call you," Jon said giving his best friend a glare. "For some reason my call didn't go through."

"I called you back the next day but you had already moved on to bigger and greater things," Trip gestured broadly in an imitation of his captain. "Erika explained everything to me, like how you threw away the instruction manual," he poked Jon in the chest and Adalie giggled.

"For the last time, it was a mistake! I thought we still had the one from Adalie's crib saved somewhere. And I didn't expect to be building one of these so soon."

Trip gave him a funny look. "Well, what did you expect?"

"Don't you start. You are just as excited for the new baby as I am."

"Oh yes I am. Me and this little one," he reached over the tickle Adalie, "are going to teach her all sorts of good things that I am certain you and Erika never will."

Jon stopped walking. "Like what?"

"Like a sense of humor." Trip slapped him on the back as they entered engineering.

"Come look at this, Captain," he pointed to a large new set of valves and monitors the likes of which Jon had only seen in the various blueprints Starfleet had sent him after he agreed to their request for a massive overhaul and refueling operation. "See they are redoing our entire injector assembly and putting in something they learned on Atlantis. It is entirely automated now. We won't have to have someone monitoring the pressure loops every time we go to warp." Trip beamed proudly as he looked over the work of the corpsmen.

"So we've lost a job on this ship?" Jon asked, worriedly.

"Not at all," Trip explained. "For every system they upgrade, they are adding a new one. With a little training, my boys will pick it all up in no time. Our expected crew compliment should be staying the same."

"That's good, Trip," Jon nodded. "The last time they overhauled the Intrepids, they lost a third of their field positions. I don't want anyone on this ship to lose their job because we are modernizing."

"It won't be a problem for us," Trip answered. "Starfleet has learned a lot since those first fleets. If you think about it, the NX was the first class that was specifically designed for space and not some scraped together, last minute warp ship built entirely out of necessity. I know that to you and your father it seems like it took us forever to reach our full potential in space but I honestly don't think we were ready. We didn't really know what we were doing and our technology from the time reflects that. Now that we are coming into our own, our ships are being designed for reality, not what we think may be out there."

Jon watched in amazement as Trip spoke with one of the dock engineers as they looked over a set of well-used blueprints. While some of his crew were finding it difficult to adjust to the extended dock time and to the presence of dozens of corpsmen crawling all over their ship as they tried to hold down a normal duty watch, Trip was thriving. He was learning the new systems as they were being installed and ensuring that nothing was done to compromise the efficiency and integrity of his baby. More than a few times Jon had received a call back in his office down on Earth that Trip was holding up the entire schedule because he wasn't satisfied with something or another. Jon had just laughed each time.

When the request had come down from Starfleet that the original Warp five ship had to be completely overhauled before it could resume active duty, Jon was torn. He was furious that someone could think that just because his ship was a little old it couldn't handle its missions like the newer ships could. But then he realized that the Admiralty was offering him something more. Enterprise would be in the Sol System for at the very least six months during the repair work and another three months during the shakedown cruises. They were giving him a way to stay near Erika while she was pregnant and after the new baby was born. And he took it.

Trip had become the de facto field commander of the ship, staying onboard to supervise the crews and keep everything running smoothly, while Jon had been transferred down to the surface where he was sure to get home every night in time for dinner. Erika had been thrilled with the change and, even though she wasn't quite old enough to understand, Adalie loved all the extra attention that her father had been showering upon her. Every week he would take a shuttle up to the orbital docks to check on the progress of things, sometimes announcing his intentions, other times like today, coming out of uniform and straight from daycare.

Trip gestured to follow him as they got back into the lift. "You are doing well up here, Trip," Jon said with a smile.

"She's a good ship, Captain. It was about time we helped her stay that way." Trip reached a hand to touch the bulkheads reverently.

Jon stopped as they entered the bridge, looking around at the dust covers that were draped across most of the equipment. He hadn't seen the ship looking like this since long before its commissioning. Welders on ladders stopped what they were doing when the Captain stepped out of the elevator, careful not to shower sparks on Jon or his young daughter. Silently he gave them nods. Most were from the Corps, engineers on assignment to the spacedock who were beginning the major repairs before the ship would be towed to the much more advanced facilities at Jupiter Station. Jon wasn't in much hurry for his ship to be transferred. He liked having Enterprise in orbit. He liked that he could come up and see how things were going without having to plan a long trip. And today, he liked that he could take Adalie up to the docks while her mother rested.

"Adalie," he said as they walked over to one of the bridge stations, "This is the communications hub of the ship. It is the most advanced visual and audio transmission system in the world, and not only does it allow us to talk with people back home, it also is used to relay and update our position telemetry." He paused as the toddler looked around, no doubt soaking up all the information. "Your mother thinks most of these systems are crap because we keep 'misplacing' ships during critical missions." Trip laughed out loud.

"Mommy," Adalie murmured.

"That's right," Jon said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Baby!" She exclaimed loudly.

Jon gave his daughter a puzzled look. When Erika had said that their then 11-month old daughter wasn't going to be able to tell everyone that they were expected again, she hadn't counted on Adalie's new favorite word being "baby." She said it all the time and to everyone they met, causing Jon and Erika to scramble to explain things. Adalie would point to her mother's belly as Erika had taught her, pat her own tummy, even nudge Jon's before he sat her down and explained that only mothers could have babies. Well, at least human mothers. Having Trip present during that conversation had been a bit of a mistake.

"She's getting worse than you were," Jon turned and gave Trip a glare.

"You're welcome."

"So what is the timetable for moving over to Jupiter Station?" Jon asked as they stood in the doorway to the ready room.

"Five more weeks, maybe six," Trip shrugged. "Hey, you hear they are thinking of building a real shipyard orbiting Mars? You could build more than one ship at a time, do simultaneous retrofits, have docks designed for one type of class and not have to keep adjusting them to different fleets."

"What about the Station?" Jon asked.

"I think they want the Station to be more for research and not just repairs."

"Mars, huh?" Jon said, thinking it over.

"You wouldn't have to worry about towing ships through the belt anymore," Trip offered.

"Wasn't that a nightmare," Jon sighed, trying not to remember the harrowing journeys back and forth through the asteroid belt in impulse ships.

"Come on, Captain, I want to show you want they are doing to our inertial dampeners. You are gonna love it."

Jon had no doubt that he would.

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	7. Chapter 7 - 33 weeks

Chapter 7 – 33 weeks

A/N: This one is based on a true story. Thank you for the kind reviews and keep them coming! Enjoy - Amelia

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Jon reread the sentence again, trying to make sense of it all. Apparently, he had broken his starship and Starfleet was none too pleased about it. And as a punishment, they were going to promote him.

_What?_

Two days ago, Enterprise had transitioned from low-level, relatively routine maintenance at the Earth orbital spacedocks to a much more in-depth and intense rebuilding at Jupiter Station. One of the reasons for the transfer was that the station was home to the best imagining sensor money could buy; it could survey ships for hidden damage or instabilities that a regular inspection up at the shipyards might miss. After months-long and sometimes years long missions in deep space, the warp ships began to breakdown unexpectedly or pick up odd rumbles when they burned their impulse engines or other such quirks that told the brass that it was time to bring the ship in for a good looking-over. Jon saw nothing wrong with that. Every ship that was out for more than three months needed to be checked comprehensively to make sure it was still safe to fly and, if not, put in the work to make it safe to fly. That system had protected him and his crews for years before.

Enterprise had gone through the six hour scanning process the day before and Jon really hadn't thought much of it. He had a feeling that they might find something, but he was confident that it wouldn't be that bad. He had been talking to Erika about it the night before and managed to convince himself that his ship of five years was still in good shape. Erika, on the other hand, had a different idea.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if they find some serious damage in your frame beams," she said that night as they were doing the dishes. Well, Jon smiled to himself as he remembered, Erika was rinsing the dishes and he was patiently bending down to lower them into the dishwasher. His wife had stopped being able to bend, reach down or stand up quickly about the time she entered into her sixth month of pregnancy.

"What do you mean?" he had asked.

"Come on, Jon, you've slammed that poor ship into the atmospheres of far too many planets to even think that you'll get a clean bill of health," she chided.

"Now wait a minute…"

"I'm not saying you are reckless," Erika continued, handing him a plate. "I'm just saying that you should prepare yourself for a bad report. Remember when Dan brought Challenger in a few weeks ago? His ship is half the age of yours and after his scan came back they grounded him for eight months."

Jon didn't buy it. "Dan's a destroyer guy," he had countered, reaching for another dish to load. "He doesn't know not to slam on the breaks every time his warp core flutters. Challenger's beam problem was because of a corrosive radiation field they flew through on accident. My ship'll be fine."

"They won't be mad at you if you break it, you know," Erika had pointed out.

"I didn't break it!"

"Whatever you say, darling."

She'd been right of course. They had been married for almost a decade so he should have known that one. The Corps Commander had sent him the report in the early hours of the morning. The NX-01 Enterprise was unsafe for interstellar flight until 18 of its 43 main frame beams were replaced and 6 others extensively repaired. Moreover, the hull plating, impulse assembly and access ports around the torpedo bays would have to be stripped and redone entirely. His ship was grounded immediately and his short six-month repair stint back on Earth was going to get a whole lot longer. Great, just great he thought as he absent-mindedly bounced Adalie on his knee.

When he woke up that morning to the sound of the report coming in, he quietly got out of bed and made his way over to his daughter's room, careful not to wake his pregnant wife. Now in her third trimester, Erika was barely able to sleep at all. She tossed and turned all night, desperately trying to find a position where the baby wasn't pressing to hard on her back or worse her bladder. During the day, she was still working full-time as Sam's Chief of Staff, but at her doctor's insistence spent most meetings with her feet propped up on her desk or pacing the edges of the room when she got restless. The entire department took very good care of "their pregnant captain" but he could tell Erika was still exhausted when she got home every evening. So he always tried to let her sleep a little longer while he got the kiddo ready for the day.

Today though he had woken up early and hadn't expected Adalie to be awake. Yet there she was, sitting happily in her crib, waiting for him. Jon shook his head with a smile as he lifted her up into his arms. As they made their way downstairs still in their pajamas, Adalie's with the puppies and Jon in an old Stanford shirt and some jogging shorts, he picked up a few things for his daughter to play with as they sat at the table: her favorite rubber giraffe, a couple of books and a baby doll. He turned on the coffee pot and sat down in his chair, placing his daughter in his lap. Then he began to read.

What bothered him more than the grim structural integrity report was what Starfleet said next. Much to his chagrin, Jon realized that the Corps Commander had not sent the report directly to him, but instead had first forwarded it to the NX project commander, Admiral Sam Gardner. And Sam (thank god he hadn't needed Erika for this) had attached his own addendum before firing it back to Jon, who was now staring at it blankly.

"Your ship has been damaged…" he read quietly to himself, "… six months of further grounding… testing phase and shakedown period extended… possible crew transfers… damage well beyond the acceptable range of injury to a vessel during a given time…. review and investigation boards may be called in … would like to offer you a promotion to Admiral…" he stopped.

Forrest had always joked that if Jon kept breaking his ship they would have no choice but to promote him, but this … this was too far, he thought as his mind raced. This had to be a prank, part of some punishment he was sure to be in for. He reread the orders for a third time. No, this was real.

"Huh," was all he could muster.

He continued to stare at the words until he heard the distinct sounds of Erika making her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Hi Rike," he said without looking up.

Erika yelped in alarm. Now Jon did look up.

"What?" he asked worriedly. "Are you…?"

Erika was staring at him, her brow furrowed but her lips threatening to break into a smile. She pointed discreetly at the little girl in his lap. "Jon…."

He wasn't sure if he wanted to look. He remembered the last time Erika came into the kitchen, yelped and pointed. Adalie had only been seven months old then and the two of them were sitting at the table waiting for Erika to wake up. Jon was holding a bottle for his daughter and munching on a piece of toast as he read the morning paper. It wasn't until Erika came downstairs that he realized that Adalie had a head full of toast crumbs. Bath time had happened a little earlier that day.

But today, it wasn't toast crumbs. Jon looked down to see his seventeen-month-old happily smearing lipstick all over her face. Reddish streaks covered her chin, her cheeks, anywhere but her lips. And she looked like she was having a great time.

"Oh crap," he muttered as he snatched the lipstick out of her hands and hoisted his daughter up and over to the counter by the sink. He could feel his wife watching him in silent amusement as he grabbed a warm washcloth and began to gently scrub those chubby little cheeks.

"Adalie, Adalie, what did you do?" Jon murmured, as much to himself as to his daughter.

The only response he got was Adalie mimicking the gesture of putting lipstick on and proclaiming, "like Mama!" Jon shot Erika a look over his shoulder. The lipstick wasn't coming off.

"Jon, at least take a picture of her before you wash it off!" Erika finally spoke, bursting into a fit of laughter. Adalie began giggling too. Her mother reached over to see if she could at least smudge some of the offending make-up off. She shook her head and smiled. "Let me go upstairs and grab that make up remover Maria gave us and you'll be fine."

"I can go get it," he offered, glancing at her belly. He always started to get nervous around eight months.

"I'm fine, Jon." His wife, on the other hand, did not start to get nervous around eight months, he observed as she began climbing the stairs.

"Erika, wait up!" he picked up Adalie and hurried after her.

"I'm serious, Jon," she said stopping and turning around.

"It's not that."

"Okay," she said as they continued to climb. "Then what?"

"The report just came in."

"And?" she asked as she walked over to the bathroom.

"And you were right. They are grounding us for at least six more months."

"Six months? You really did break your ship," she shook her head as she rummaged through the cupboards.

"That's not all," he paused as he adjusted Adalie in his arms. "Erika, they've offered me the Admiralty."

"For breaking your ship?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm not sure that the two events are related."

"So this is real?" She stopped looking and turned around to face him.

"As real as the lipstick currently covering our daughter's face."

"Oh my god, Jon! This is wonderful." She threw her arms around him and then stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Are you going to accept?"

"I don't know… I don't even know what they want me to be doing down here… I mean, yes of course! Of course I'll do it. It will mean giving up Enterprise, but that doesn't matter because we've been thinking about it anyway and I would be closer to you and the girls and…"

"Whoa there," Erika placed a hand on his chest to slow him down. "Have you talked to Sam yet?"

Jon shook his head no.

"You probably should," she looked over at Adalie who was now tugging on her father's ear, "as soon as we get this little lady cleaned up." She handed Jon a bottle of make-up remover that his sister-in-law swore had removed all sorts of things from his nieces' faces. He hoped she was right.

"Stay right there, I'm going to get the camera," Erika said as she gave him another look.

Jon turned to the little girl in his arms. "So, what do you think, darling? Should Dad become one of the brass and stay here?" Adalie nodded her head vigorously.

"Well okay then."

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	8. Chapter 8 - 35 weeks

Chapter 8 – 35 weeks

A/N: this one goes out to my four fabulous regular reviewers. Your thoughts on the last chapter helped inspire this one. Thank you for always bringing a smile to my face.

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Erika looked at her desk and sighed. It was covered with papers, padds, briefing memos, crew manifests, requisition requests, crayon scribbles, random doodles that her husband had left in the corners of bits of paper when he was using her office temporarily, and a whole lot of junk. The trick she knew was sorting through it all. Usually she was very efficient at keeping on top of things like this, but for the last two weeks, she hadn't been thinking about her job so much as her husband's.

In the weeks since Jon had been offered a promotion to Rear Admiral, he had begun to have second thoughts about leaving the Corps of Captains. Erika knew that her husband wanted the position. It was what he had been working towards since he joined Starfleet all those years ago. But things had changed since then and the times weren't as simple as they had been. There was a war going on.

It wasn't until a few days after he got the letter and they had finally gotten the lipstick off of their daughter's face that Jon began to realize what the promotion would mean. First and foremost, it would mean giving up his ship. Erika knew the sort of loyalty Jon felt to his crew and to his ship; she had felt it towards hers but she had given all that up when they decided to start a family. Sure there were some pangs of regret, a bit of sadness that she now had to sit back and watch as others reported in from the frontlines, but those feelings were all fleeting in comparison to the peace of mind she had knowing that Adalie and the baby on the way would be safe and have their mother close by.

Working for Sam had turned out to be much more rewarding than she had originally even dreamed it could be. Together they oversaw the entire NX program, from building and retrofitting all the ships in the class to handing out assignments and making sure that the now seven-vessel fleet was functioning to the best of their ability. And having been one of those captains herself gave Erika an advantage that Sam Gardner, who had gone straight from being a test pilot to overseeing the project, had never been. The other captains, Kaidie, Rob, Dan, Luke, Emily and Will, trusted that Erika knew what they were going through out there and usually if they had a problem, they would come to her first. More often than not, she was able to fix things without getting Sam involved.

The other NX captain, the first NX captain, was a different matter all together. Her husband was still used to being independent. It had been a long time between the launch of Enterprise and the launch of Columbia and Jon still wasn't sure what to make of the rest of the captains. He respected them all but they had come on board at a different time, when Starfleet had begun churning out sister ships after his maiden voyage had been so successful. The new captains didn't have the hesitation and the trepidation that he still had about their newly invented technology. They didn't have the wariness of interspecies cooperation that Jon had been forced to learn the hard way after some serious incidents where basic diplomacy had fallen away. Even though they were all close in age to him, it was almost as if they were from a different generation. And Erika was his go-between.

Still, even with the distance between him and the rest of the captains, Jon loved his ship. It was his ship first and foremost and everyone knew that. It was Enterprise that was usually called first when a situation developed, Enterprise that was the flagship of the fleet and Enterprise's captain who was trusted above all the rest. And then he had gone and broken his ship.

Enterprise's grounding would have been bad enough on its own. The ship was in need of severe repairs and the majority of its crew was therefore unnecessary as the corpsmen began to take over. One by one they had been reassigned to other ships, some in the NX program, some not. There was an implicit understanding that once Enterprise was back on her feet, everyone would be allowed to transfer back, but in the meantime the crew was just too valuable to leave sitting in drydock with their broken ship. That had been the main reason why Starfleet had offered the promotion when they did. Jon was one of their most brilliant and respected officers and as much as he wanted to stay with his ship, he knew and they knew that he would do no one any good moping around an already crowded space station like a child waiting for a favorite toy to be repaired.

And it was generally acknowledged that Jon should not be given command of a different ship of a different class. Erika still maintained that it was the idea of "old dog, new tricks" but the reality of the situation wasn't far from it. Her husband had spent his entire life working on the NX-class and specifically warp five ships. He would essentially be starting from scratch if he was transferred to another program. Starfleet was wise enough to realize that they could not afford to lose the institutional knowledge of the man who had written the book on the class. So they had offered him a promotion to be the newly created overseer of strategic deployments of the NX feet, with Sam as his direct superior and Erika tasked with keeping an administrative eye on him.

But Jon had begun to worry about accepting the promotion and Erika knew that there was only one man on the entire planet who could convince her husband to give up his ship for the good of the cause. She had dragged him to work to talk with Sam and now waited patiently in her office for him to return.

Presently Jon poked his head in the doorway, glancing around to see if she was alone. His eyese lingered on the pile of papers that looked no better than they had when he had left her over an hour ago. She looked up, trying to read his face.

"So?" she began. "How did it go?"

Jon walked over to the couch and flopped down, his feet resting on the armrest and one arm draped across his eyes. He mumbled something.

"What?" she asked.

"I took the job," he finally said.

"And?"

"It was the right decision."

Slowly, with both her hands braced on the desk, Erika stood up. She walked over to him and, with the same care and deliberateness, she sat down next to him on the couch, one hand now resting on her burgeoning belly. "So why don't you look as happy as you were when you first found out about it?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm excited. I'm glad to be doing this kind of work, glad to have the opportunity to work more with the new kids they are sending out there each day. I feel like this is a good role for me to play, but at the same time, I wish it were under different circumstances. I can't help but feel that I am abandoning my crew and my ship during wartime. They have us out there making the circuit telling everyone how important it is to keep fighting and to not give up. What if I've given up?" he said, as he sat up and leaned back against the firm cushions.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and took one of his hands in his. "Did you tell all this to Sam?"

"Yes," he said, "and he said it was all natural to feel like this when you leave your ship. He said that this is the right thing to do because my government needs me to keep serving even if it is in a different capacity."

Erika nodded. That was probably what she would have said too but she never wanted to be the one who asked her husband to give up his ship. She had tried to stay neutral throughout the past two weeks as Jon wrestled with his decision, but she couldn't help but hope that he accepted the promotion. She wanted him back here with her and the girls and she wanted him to get off the front lines. Jon knew that of course, and she knew it had played a huge role in his decision whether she wanted it to or not. Just as he had struggled with her decision to leave Columbia so to did she struggle as he left his ship behind.

"You know," she said, rubbing her thumb across his knuckles, "there is a very real grieving process that you have to go through when you give up the captaincy of a ship. It is only natural when something that was once the center around which your entire world revolved suddenly disappears. You feel guilty, lonely, even angry all at once. And then you are guilty and angry that you feel so relieved and so happy with your new position. I went through all of this before."

"You didn't say anything to me about it," Jon looked at her, puzzled. She knew that he had wanted to help her with that transition as much as possible but it was one thing that he just wasn't able to understand at the time.

"I know," she said, looking him in the eye, "I had other people to talk to about that. Other captains who had gone through what I was going through," she stopped and brought their interlocked hands to her belly, "well, who had gone through some of what I was going through. It made it easier to leave Columbia behind and move forward."

Erika felt Jon relax again and lean back again, resting his head on hers as they sat in silence. She knew the transition would be hard for him but as he had said, it was the right decision. In the coming weeks they would work together on selecting a replacement for him but everyone had known exactly who it was going to be as soon as they offered Jon the brass. Trip Tucker would be getting a phone call pretty soon that he wasn't likely to ever forget.

"I'm proud of you," she said softly. She could feel him smile.

"I suppose this has been a long time coming, hasn't it?" he tried to laugh.

"It certainly has. Welcome aboard, Admiral Archer."

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	9. Chapter 9 - 37 weeks

Chapter 9 – 37 weeks

A/N: Bones, you know you made this a better fic by patiently listening to me work through things. Thank you - Amelia.

###

Erika Hernandez was nesting. Her due date was less than three weeks away and she had a good feeling that this one was going to be coming a little early. Most nights she was kept awake with false contractions and she was definitely carrying the baby a bit lower than she had been only a week before. Even Jon was starting to notice that it was almost time. Now she was busy getting the baby's room ready. When they found out that they were going to be having another girl, she and Jon had hoped that they would be able to reuse a lot of the perfectly good things that Adalie had outgrown. They had enough baby clothes to probably last them through at least the next two kids, Jon had been musing one night, until Erika shot him a look and muttered something about that water polo team.

What both of them had conveniently forgotten though was that preparing for a new baby took a lot more than clothes. They needed a new crib, and after that probably a healthy dose of pride to make Jon feel better about how that had all turned out. They need a new changing table for the nursery and another call to Simon to help them set it up before they had a repeat of the crib. They needed blankets and toys because Adalie was only just beginning to understand the idea of sharing. Erika had been making lists of everything they had and everything they still needed, lists which were now covering one wall of the nursery.

Jon had noticed that she was in a cleaning mood earlier that morning and decided, probably wisely, to take Adalie and Porthos out for a walk. The three of them had a habit of undoing any cleaning that she managed to get done and in addition to wanting the baby's room to be ready, they were having company tonight. Simon, Maria and the girls were coming over and while they were family, Erika didn't want her house looking like a pigsty when they arrived. No doubt Jon had already purchased something for the two girls to play with after dinner, something like bubbles or glitter or silly putty, which was bound to make a mess. Jon loved those girls and he spoiled them rotten. Before they were married, he used to joke that he fell in love with her so that he could spend more time with Vivie and Nerissa. Somehow it seemed fitting that after loving those two Hernandez girls their whole lives that Jon would now have two of his own.

Before they had left, Jon offered to pick up any last minute groceries that they might need for dinner and she sent him out with a list carefully taped to the stroller. He had lost enough shopping lists to teach her to take such preventive measures.

With Jon, the dog and the kiddo out for the next few hours, Erika had set to work in the nursery, cleaning and folding, doing a load of laundry before realizing that she couldn't bend down to empty the washer and deciding to leave it for Jon, and puttering. She liked to imagine how it would be to be able to finally hold her little baby in her arms, to rock her in the same rocking chair that had lulled Adalie to sleep so many nights, to wrap her in the "snuggly" that Trip had already sent over, to introduce her to her big sister. The room might not be ready but Erika was.

Suddenly, she heard the door bang shut downstairs and she checked her watch. Jon must be home, she thought, waiting for the inevitable.

"Rike! We're home!" _There it was._

"I'll be down in a minute," she called, glancing one last time at the nearly ready baby room. Maybe she could get some more work done when Adalie went down for her nap. Erika made her way to the staircase and slowly began to head down. She swore she heard a stair creak under her growing frame. She was getting a little tired of the stairs in their small home, now more than ever. Adalie loved to climb up or down them, which meant that someone always had to be watching her anytime she went near them. Jon had a nasty habit of charging up the stairs like he was back in his college dorm, thudding loud enough to wake both her and the baby. And now that she was pregnant again, Erika hated how exhausting the stairs were and how she was always out of breath when she finally made it to the top. Going down and being so utterly top heavy wasn't much better. She was glad that Jon's promotion meant that they could finally start looking for a house, a real house to fit their growing family. And she was pretty sure that Porthos would be happy about that too.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped. There was her husband, her eighteen-month-old daughter, her husband's beloved dog and another dog.

"Jon?" she asked in a worried tone, glancing from him to the dog and then back at him.

"Puppy!" Adalie cried as she flung her arms around the new arrival. Jon gave his wife a sheepish look.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she said, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice. _Another dog?_

"Let me explain," Jon said, holding up his arms as if trying to ward off a blow. "We were walking by the shelter and I decided that it would be fun to go in and take a look around, you know see if there was anyone looked like it might be a good fit. Before I knew it, the two of them were all over this one and …"

"Slow down, flyboy," Erika's brows began to furrow. "Did you just say that you let our toddler and dog pick out a new pet?"

"Erika, meet Sadie," Jon said as he held up the sweetest little beagle puppy Erika had ever seen. She felt her stern expression melt away. "She's six weeks old and has had all her shots, she's perfect with Adalie and was all curled up with Porthos before we left. We spent the whole morning with her. They both love her," she felt her husband's eyes linger on her as she reached out to hold the puppy in her arms, "and I think you do too."

Erika held the puppy to her chest, resting it gently on her belly. The little puppy licked her chin the way Porthos always did. She looked into those sweet brown eyes and rubbed the same velvety ears and knew that Jon had won. Sadie was perfect. She looked back at Jon and noticed that he was watching her very closely.

"I didn't mean to get another dog without talking to you first," he said apologetically. "It just sort of happened." He reached over and rubbed Sadie's ear as the little beagle snuggled deeper into Erika's arms.

"Did you think about this from a practical perspective?" she asked. "We've got another baby coming real soon and we are already running out of space in this house as it is and we've both got work and…"

Jon put his finger to her lips. "Erika…"

She looked up at him, trying to look worried. "Have you given up on Athos?" She asked with all the sincerity she could muster before her smile broke through. Her husband fell for it and began laughing. "Not that you asked, but yes we can keep her!" she said finally.

Jon let out a whoop, but stopped when Porthos started barking in alarm.

"Porthos and Sadie, huh?" she sighed as she handed the puppy back to Jon.

"Well, if Trip keeps coming by, Adalie will be calling them 'Moose and Sadie.'" Erika wasn't exactly sure what had happened to start Trip calling his captain's dog "Moose" but it had stuck. And it was beginning to stick with their toddler too.

"Did you at least pick up those vegetables I wanted for tonight?" she asked and instantly knew the answer.

Jon paled visibly. "Um, no," he turned to pick up his daughter. "Addie, come on, we're going out again."

"Moose and puppy?" Adalie asked as he put her sunhat back on.

Erika couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, honey," Jon answered. "Moose and puppy can come too."

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	10. Chapter 10 - 38 weeks

Chapter 10 – 38 weeks

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He came to the doorway and stopped. Erika was sitting at her desk, just like she had been when he left, but now she suddenly lowered her palm to her belly and dropped what she was working on.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked, stepping inside the office.

"I'm fine," she said before wincing and cradling her belly in her arms.

"Erika…"

"It's nothing. It's … just more false contractions," she closed her eyes and leaned forward, still holding her rounded stomach protectively.

"It doesn't look like false contractions to me," Jon said as he knelt down next to her. "How long have you been having them?"

"The past couple of hours," she said, resting her head on his shoulder as he rubbed his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.

"And how often do they come?" he asked.

"Every five minutes or so."

"And are they lasting about a minute each time?"

Erika only nodded, breathing deeply and then finally relaxing as the pain passed.

"Erika, I think you're in labor." He held her face in his hands and kissed her on the cheek. "We should probably head over to the hospital."

"Not yet," she said turning back to her desk.

"What?" he stood up suddenly, almost knocking a stack of books off her desk.

"I've got a few more reports that I need to get through tonight."

"Are you kidding me?" Jon laughed. "Erika, we really need to go."

"I've still got time."

"Rike, you're in labor!" he protested.

"I'll just cross my legs!"

"Erika!"

"No I'm fine," she insisted. "Adalie took her sweet time to get here and this one will too," she tried to assure him as she kept reading, jotting down notes and searching her desk for something. "Could you hand me that report?" She pointed to a padd near Jon.

"No," he said, picking it up.

"Jonathan…"

"No."

Erika folded her arms across her chest. "Jonathan, I'm about to go on maternity leave for the next six months. The least you could do is let me finish this project before we go. I really…" her voice trailed off and Jon could tell the pain was back.

"Hey, it's okay. Just breathe, Rike," he said, reaching over to hold her hand. "Just keep breathing. That's it," he checked his watch as Erika bit her lip and squeezed his hand tightly. "Almost done. There we go," he smiled as he felt her grip on his hand release.

Erika sighed and moved to pick up the report again. "Oh no you don't," he said, reaching to take another one out of her grasp.

"This needs to be done tonight," she protested.

"I doubt that very much," he raised an eyebrow.

"Hon, this baby is on her way whether we are ready or not. I'd just as soon appreciate it if you didn't actually win the bet by giving birth at work, okay?"

Reluctantly, Erika admitted defeat and slowly stood up holding on to Jon for support. All at once, Jon heard a great whoosh and looked down to see a puddle of water on the floor. Then he heard his wife gasp.

"Erika, did your water just break?" he asked, trying to keep some calm in his voice.

Erika was looking down and then looked back up at him, a bit of worry showing on her face. "Jon, my water broke," she repeated breathlessly.

"I know," he said, running to pick up her bags.

"Jon, I'm in labor."

He turned back to see her standing there, still in shock, one hand rubbing gentle circles on her belly and the other braced carefully on the desk. "I know, Rike. Let's go to the hospital." He held out his hand to her. She took it and slowly walked towards him.

"Okay," she murmured.

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	11. Chapter 11 - 38 weeks, 12 hours later

Chapter 11 – 38 weeks, 12 hours later

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Adalie had stayed over at Simon and Maria's that night.

In spite of Jon's insistence that they head to the hospital as fast as humanly possible, they almost didn't make it in time. Jon had never been more terrified in his life that he would have to deliver his own daughter right there and then. Erika, on the other hand, had been singularly focused on gripping his hand to the point of nearly cutting off all circulation, and crying out in pain as the contractions grew stronger. The hospital admissions desk staff had taken one look at the two of them and whisked them away to a delivery suite a moment later. It wasn't a moment too soon. Their daughter arrived thirty minutes later.

She was perfect, Jon knew as he held the baby tightly in his arms. She was a little smaller than Adalie had been, weighing in at 6 lbs, 2 oz, but she was perfect. Both mom and baby were healthy and resting well. Only when Erika was feeling strong enough did he step out into the hallway to call everyone to let them know the good news. His brother-in-law must have known that something was off when he heard his voice.

"Simon?" he had asked, almost sheepishly.

"Jon? I thought you guys were coming over here for dinner. What's wrong?" Simon asked cautiously.

"We're at the hospital. Erika just had the baby."

"Congratulations!" Simon said and Jon could almost hear him smiling. "Everyone okay?"

"Just fine. Erika's a little tired because everything went so quickly but the baby is healthy and perfect," Jon shook his head and smiled. He couldn't stop saying that. She was perfect. She was perfect the way Adalie had been perfect when she was born. Perfect in the way that Erika had been when they first met, perfect the way she had been when they got married. And perfect in the way that he now felt.

"Have you guys settled on a name yet?" Simon had been witness to some of the more recent arguments that he and his wife were having about what to name their second daughter. Erika kept throwing around the "I gave birth to her, I should get to name her" card, which Jon thought was valid, but he was a little worried that Erika didn't seem to trust his taste when he suggested names. She kept muttering something about Columbia Archer, whatever that was supposed to mean. But from the moment they had looked into this sweet little girl's eyes they had known what her name was.

"Yes, we have," Jon tried not to laugh. "Her name is Frankie. Frankie Ramona Archer."

"That is a beautiful name, Jon."

"Well, according to your sister I had nothing to do with it," Jon ran his hand through his hair hastily. "Anyway, would you mind keeping Addie at your place tonight? They want to keep Rike here for a little while just to keep an eye on her and I don't really want to leave her just yet…"

"Of course we'll keep Adalie for the night. Maria's got her upstairs right now getting ready for bed."

"And we want you guys to come by first thing in the morning to meet the baby. You, Maria, the girls and Addie," Jon said.

"We can hardly wait," he said and Jon knew that was probably an understatement. Once the girls knew that their newest cousin would be born, there would be very little sleeping going on in the Hernandez house that night.

"Is there anything you guys need?" Simon asked after a moment. "I gather that things happened fairly quickly. Do you need someone to grab a change of clothes or Erika's hospital bags?"

Jon laughed. "Trip already beat you to that, but thank you. We're just fine for now."

"Give your wife and daughter a kiss for me."

"I will," Jon promised.

"Congratulations, Jon. We'll see you in the morning."

To be honest, neither Jon nor Erika slept that much either. They took turns holding the baby who seemed to have inherited her sister's inability to sleep unless someone was holding her. Jon didn't mind. There wasn't anything to compare to the feeling of complete peace that washed over him as his daughter snuggled close to his chest, wrapped in the baby blanket that Erika's mom had made and sleeping contentedly. Every now and then she would stretch out her arms or legs and fidget slightly but a whisper from her father and a gentle touch on her cheek was all it took to settle her back down again.

Maria had called earlier to let them know that they were on their way and for a moment, Jon wondered if the whole night had really passed him by so quickly. But as he stood by the window, swaying gently back and forth to comfort the baby, he could see the sun rising above the bridge.

"You ready for company?" he said, turning back to Erika who was still lying in the bed. She nodded with a tired smile.

"Have you thought at all about what we are going to tell Adalie?" Jon asked. "That the baby from her belly is suddenly here?"

Erika thought for a moment and then answered. "Yes, that sounds about right. No doubt Maria is prepping her for all this. She seemed to understand a lot more about what was going on that we gave her credit for."

"Do you think she'll be excited?" he asked nervously.

"Of course she will," Erika said as he sat down on the bed next to her. "She's your daughter after all."

"Captain Hernandez?" a nurse poked her head in from the hallway. "Your family is here to see you."

Erika smiled. "Send them in."

Jon watched as Maria came in first, holding Adalie in her arms. His older daughter, (he smiled to himself even as he thought it. He now had an older daughter and a younger daughter), was holding onto her aunt tightly and looking around the hospital room as if to take it all in. Behind them was Simon, with Nerissa on his hip and Vivienne holding on to his arm.

"Hi sweetheart!" Erika said as she held her arms out to her daughter. Instantly, Adalie forgot about being shy and jumped into her mother's arms. "Oh, I missed you so much. Did you have a good sleepover?" Adalie nodded and then looked at her mother more closely.

"Baby?" she asked, patting Erika gently.

Erika looked up at Jon with a knowing gaze. "The baby is here now," she said pointing over to the tiny sleeping bundle in her father's arms. "Addie, this is your baby sister, Frankie." Adalie looked closely at the baby, smiled and bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead. Then she went back to her mother's waiting arms satisfied with the new arrival. Jon felt his heart almost burst with happiness.

"Addie? Do you want to hold the baby?" Erika asked as Adalie nodded. Slowly and gently Jon laid the tiny baby down in Erika's arms as Adalie snuggled in right next to her, resting her head on her mother's arm.

"Frankie," Adalie said softly but loud enough that everyone in the room could hear it.

"That's right, kiddo," Erika grinned. "Frankie."

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A/N: One more chapter after this and then maybe part three? What do you guys think?


	12. Chapter 12 - Epilogue

Chapter 12 – Epilogue

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"I, Jonathan Beckett Archer…" the Admiral began.

"I, Jonathan Beckett Archer."

"Do solemnly swear…"

"Do solemnly swear."

"That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United Earth…"

Erika caught the faintest glint in her husband's eye. He knew that the current talks to expand the Coalition of Planets would some day change the very words that he was repeating right now. They had practiced this at home, with Erika administering the oath and Jon practicing repeating after her until he was satisfied that he wouldn't screw it up. But each time Jon kept interrupting that one day they wouldn't be defending United Earth any more, but rather a new interplanetary alliance. Erika had just nodded and told him that if he wanted to wait until then to take his oath she'd probably punch him.

"Against all enemies, foreign and domestic…"

"Against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same."

Erika let her mind wander as she looked across the expanse of the new auditorium. Starfleet had wanted a place where all its captains, officers and support staff could be together for important events. She doubted very much that her husband would consider this an important event. Everyone else in the room knew it was. Unlike most promotion ceremonies, Jon's was witnessed by ambassadors from seventeen different planets, thirty-eight different species, and the majority of the officers corps. Erika stood proudly off to the side, a slightly sleepy Frankie in her arms and a much more cautious Adalie clinging to her leg as they looked out over the expanse of Starfleet uniforms.

Off to her left was Trip Tucker, looking absolutely terrified, as he tried not to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. He had been pacing their apartment all morning as they waited to head over to the ceremony. Although he denied it, Erika was fairly certain that Trip was afraid that at the last possible moment someone would realize their mistake and assign his baby to someone else. No matter how many times Jon or Erika told him that this was really going to happen, Trip was still a nervous wreck. So Erika decided to put his pacing to good use and handed him the baby. Together, Trip and Frankie walked all over their house until at least one of them was finally asleep.

"… and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Admiral Black held out his hand to shake Jon's. "Congratulations, Admiral Archer!" The crowd broke into applause and cheers as Jon stopped to shake the hand of everyone up on the podium with him. Erika saw the smile on his face and, as their eyes met over the shoulder of an older admiral, she gave him an equally bright smile in return.

Finally, the cheering settled down and Jon stepped up to the lectern and cleared his throat. "Thank you all so much for this incredible honor," he said as he looked out over the crowd. " I am so proud to be a part of this organization as we enter into a new time of interplanetary cooperation and continued exploration of our great universe. We have a lot of work ahead of us. There will be many challenges that will test the very essence of our being and push us towards goals we never would have even hoped to attain. This charge towards greatness isn't led by the people who stay behind on Earth," the crowd laughed a bit and Jon looked over at Erika again who nodded her encouragement. "Oh sure, we help out a lot. But the real fighters are the brave men and women on the front lines of our space fleet, the Captains and their crews who each day are discovering something new and breathtaking. I was proud to be a part of that group for so many years and now it is my pleasure to induct another man into my place."

Jon turned to Trip and signaled to him to step up on the podium. "As my first official duty as an Admiral in Starfleet, I will be promoting Commander Charles Tucker III to the rank of captain with all the duties therein."

Erika knew things had now come full circle as she watched as Trip raised his right hand and began to repeat after his best friend.

"I, Charles Tucker III…"

"I, Charles Tucker III."

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A/N: Thank you guys for coming along with me on part 2! I loved reading all of your reviews and thoughts as I pieced this story together. Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon! - Amelia


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